actively learning in & beyond tuscaloosa

thankful for so much

I am thankful for so much including a wonderful Thanksgiving, which included a meal with those lovely collards in the photo above.

I am thankful, too, for the chance to continue learning about the historical past with Miami in mind. Below is an image of a book that arrived via the Interlibrary Loan folks at the University of Alabama Library. They do such a wonderful job of getting books to us in a timely way.

In this book, I learn about some of the earliest settlers of the Coconut Grove community in Miami, the first neighborhood I called home. The book’s author is Thelma Gibson, nurse and wife of the late Father Theodore Gibson, a well known activist. Her signature is in the image. She cared a lot about “the Grove” and her family’s history. Her writing helps me contribute to the history of people of African descent from the Bahamas in Miami before the city was even founded in 1896 (indeed, in it I saw mention of some of my relatives whose parents arrived in Miami in the early twentieth century from Eleuthera).

I love how the book is from the public library in my Miami-Dade County, which was just called Dade County when I was a kid. I loved visits to the library back then.

Below is a photo of me sporting Bama gear. Had fun watching our win over Auburn this weekend and look forward to our game against Georgia next week. And yes, I am still reeling from that LSU-Texas A & M game last night.

And here at the two sweet potato pies I made for Thanksgiving. We thought we’d freeze one of them for Christmas. Not happening.

Pressing onward to my final three lectures for the semester in my “American Civilization Since 1865” class. We’re still addressing the Vietnam War. The song below, which was recorded by Memphis poet-singer Gil Scott Heron, has lyrics that resonate with the 1970s, that war and even events occurring today.

I also continue addressing 1970s culture with the war in the background this week. My lecture invites attention to the optimism some people – including women – manage to have in that decade despite the growing gap between conventional and radical thought. Below is a clip from the sitcom “Alice,” which concerns a single mother who moves to Arizona where she works as a waitress.